1. Build their self-efficacy toward reading. Self-efficacy is defined by Albert Bandura (1986) as “the beliefs that we have about ourselves that cause us to make choices, put forth effort, and persist in the face of difficulty.” He further suggests …

As a ten-year veteran elementary classroom teacher, I had my fair share of using different curricula and methodologies to teach reading, specifically during read aloud instruction. Over the years, I have come to realize that the most fruitful approach for read …

During the decade I spent as a teacher of struggling middle and high school readers, I was dedicated and constantly finding ways to engage and motivate my students in reading. My classroom instruction was centered around high-interest novels that sparked …

In my first years of teaching, I was blessed with an abundance of energy that fueled me to work the long hours of the school day and then stay up until the wee hours of the night at the The Second City Improv School taking classes and seeing live comedy …

When I was a kid, summer was a time for playing outside all day. My friends and I ran through the sprinklers, rode our bikes, and played on the swings and slide at the park. Going down the slide was my favorite thing. I loved the twists and turns of the bright- …

I recently returned from two weeks in The Gambia, a small developing country in West Africa. I was part of a team of educators from the United States sent to implement a pilot program, funded by the World Bank. Our mission was to work with Gambian educators who …

I used to have a student’s grandmother volunteer in my classroom each week. She was a retired university professor, a mentor of teachers, and a well-educated woman. I loved watching her interact with my students. I respected and valued her opinion in my …

One of my hobbies is baking. The secret of success in baking is finding the perfect recipe. In our family, we have a recipe for Almond Roca that my grandma passed down to us. It’s one of the only recipes we don’t give out because it is that good! When …

It may seem strange to read a title like the title of this blog post and then recognize that it was written by the president of a publishing company—a company whose purpose is seemingly to make money selling curriculum to schools. What reason could there be …

The United States has a somewhat fraught history with dyslexia laws. Despite over a century of research, a consistent definition of dyslexia for use in legislation still does not exist. The International Dyslexia Association uses the following …